Alan Menken

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Alan Menken
Image:AlanMenkenSmall.JPG
Born July 22 1949 (1949-07-22) (age 59)
New Rochelle, New York, U.S. Image:Flag of the United States.svg
Years active 1980-Present
Spouse(s) Janis Menken (1972-Present)

Alan Menken (born July 22 1949 in New Rochelle, New York) is an American Broadway and an eight time Academy Award winning film score composer and pianist. Menken has collaborated with several renowned lyricists including Howard Ashman (1950-1991), Tim Rice and Stephen Schwartz.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Alan Menken developed an interest in music at an early age, studying piano and violin. He attended New York University as a pre-med student, but later changed his focus to music. After college, he attended the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop, through which he met Howard Ashman. He performed frequently in local clubs and worked as a composer of jingles and songs and as an accompanist.

In the late 1970s, Menken wrote several shows that were successfully showcased, but were not produced. Menken's first major professional work was with Ashman for the Off-Broadway 1979 WPA Theatre production of the play God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, an adaptation of a Kurt Vonnegut novel. This was well received, but three years later, he achieved greater success with the 1982 Off-Broadway musical Little Shop of Horrors, again with Ashman, for which he earned a Drama Desk Award nomination. Little Shop was adapted for a successful motion picture and later a Broadway run.

In 1983, Menken received the BMI Career Achievement Award for his body of work for the musical theater, including Little Shop, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, Real Life Funnies, Atina: Evil Queen of the Galaxy (produced in workshop as Battle of the Giants), Patch, Patch, Patch, and contributions to numerous revues including Personals and Diamonds. In 1987, a musical adaptation of The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, with lyrics by David Spencer, was produced in Philadelphia. In 1992, the WPA Theatre produced Menken's Weird Romance, also with lyrics also by Spencer. Menken's 1994 musical based on the Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol, with lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and book by Mike Ockrent, debuted at Madison Square Garden's Paramount Theater. The show proved successful and is becoming an annual New York holiday event. Menken received both Tony Award and Drama Desk Award nominations for the music to the stage musical version of Beauty and the Beast which opened on Broadway in 1994.

Menken is best known, however, for his work on several Disney animated features, including The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, and Home on the Range. Menken has received eight Academy Awards and has one of the highest Oscar to film ratios of anyone in the industry. He recently produced all the music for the Disney movie, Enchanted (2007)

Menken's Sister Act the Musical was produced in 2006. The musical version of The Little Mermaid is scheduled to open on Broadway in January 2008. Menken and his wife, Janis, a former ballet dancer, reside in upstate New York with their two young children.

Menken was in his agent's (Richard Kraft) film Finding Kraftland.

[edit] Selected works

[edit] Upcoming Projects

  • The Snow Queen set to debut at Tokyo DisneySea with Amon Miyamoto directing and John Weidman as the bookwriter and Glenn Slater the lyricist.
  • Sinbad's Storybook Voyage, overlay of Sinbad's Seven Voyages at Tokyo DisneySea featuring an original song, "Compass of your Heart"
  • The Little Mermaid Broadway stage version.
  • Leap of Faith Broadway musical (opening date unknown)

[edit] Awards

[edit] Academy Award Nominations and Wins

[edit] Tony Awards and Drama Desk Awards

[edit] References

[edit] External links

de:Alan Menken es:Alan Menken fr:Alan Menken it:Alan Menken he:אלן מנקן nl:Alan Menken ja:アラン・メンケン pt:Alan menken ru:Менкен, Алан fi:Alan Menken sv:Alan Menken zh:亚伦·孟肯

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